She isn't actually trying to hurt him - she definitely manages to do that more often than not when she is trying - so it takes effort to stop herself short, to think about an answer rather than spitting out the first one that comes to mind.

It's not about her. She's trying to understand him, and if he thinks there's something that might drag him right under, if he's telling her that, she needs to sit up and pay the fuck attention.

"That's what it is to you? That's what it feels like?" Earnest this time, not a ramp up to something else. "That a contract overrides anything anyone might actually feel or think about you?"